More bonuses for public servants-better management needed first

[Orga]

News article today quotes Brian Hayes referring to the forthcoming introduction of performance-related bonuses for public servants such as civil servants, teachers, nurses, (Gardai?), and others. Two points of view strike me as likely:

1. More "jam" for cossetted public servants
2. It's a good idea to reward workers who go the extra mile, just make sure the measurement system isn't another "ATM".

But, isn't really about incentivising performance and financial incentive is much further down the list of what motivates people to go that extra mile than money. So, shouldn't all the time and effort be put first into better human capital management, starting with better recruitment, induction and probation systems for public servants?

 

[battybrennan]

And more concerning is who will decide which person has the better performance in order to be rewarded????
I think many workers could be left feeling without any incentive to work any harder as they may feel they would never get it.
Personally I didn't like the sound of that headline at all --- many statements from government lately seem to have an element of threat about themrather than any encouragement.

 

[liaconn]

I agree. These kind of things can become very subjective. A 'merit award' scheme was introduced into the civil service during the economic boom and it was a disaster - very divisive, and on many occasions overlooked the people working quietly and effectively in the background while favouring the trumpet blowers or those who happened to be working on projects that were very much in the limelight.

 

[RainyDay]

on many occasions overlooked the people working quietly and effectively in the background while favouring the trumpet blowers or those who happened to be working on projects that were very much in the limelight.

That's pretty much how these schemes work in the private sector too.

 

[Purple]

That's pretty much how these schemes work in the private sector too.

No, they are not, not in the SME sector anyway. Anyway, they aren't funded by tax payers money and so are not relevant to this discussion.

 

[Delboy]

Remember when they tried to take the bonuses off the higher paid civil servants at the start of this crisis. They all had been getting full bonuses every year and for so long, that they fought their case on the grounds that the bonuses should be deemed to be part of their normal annual salary. I can't recall whether the Labour Court agreed with them or not or if it even went that far, but they got their way and held on to the pay!!!